ORGANISATION

Exclusive Privileges of Government

1. The Central Government has the exclusive privilege of conveying letters by post and of establishing, maintaining communications services within the Indian Union. The privileges and powers of the Government in respect of Postal and cognate matters are dealt with in the Indian Post Office Act. Officers of the Department are required to guard against any infringement of these privileges.
2. The Department of Posts comes under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. The Postal Service Board, the apex management body of the Department, comprises the Chairman and three Members. The posts of the Director-General (Posts) and the Secretary in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology are also concurrently held by the Chairman. The three members of the Board hold portfolios of Operations, Development and Personnel respectively. The joint Secretary and Financial Advisor to the Department is a permanent invitee to the Board. The Board is assisted by a senior staff officer of the Directorate as Secretary to the Board. Deputy Directors General, Directors and Assistant Directors General provide the necessary functional support for the Board at the Headquarters.
1. For providing postal services, the whole country has been divided into twenty two postal circles. Each Circle is coterminous with a State except Gujarat (which also administers the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli) Kerala Circle (which includes the Union Territory of Lakshdweep) Maharashtra Circle (which has within its jurisdiction the State of Goa) North Eastern Circle (which comprises six North Eastern States-Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland & Tripura) Punjab Circle (which has within its administrative jurisdiction, the Union Territory of Chandigarh); and Tamilnadu Circle (which also administers the Union Territory of Pondicherry). Eighteen Circles are headed by a Chief Postmaster General and three circles are headed by Principal Chief Postmaster General. Every Circle is divided into Regions comprising field units, called Divisions (Postal/RMS Divisions). Each Region is headed by a Postmaster General who is the Postal Manager of the area. In the Circles and Regions there are other functional units like Circle Stamp Depots, Postal Stores Depots and Mail Motor Service, etc. Besides these twenty two Circles, there is another Circle, called Base Circle, to cater to the postal communication needs of the Armed Forces. The Base Circle is headed by an officer in the rank of Major General called Additional Director General, Army Postal Service. The officer cadre of the Army Postal Service comprises officers on deputation from the Civil Posts. Seventy five percent of the other ranks of the Army Postal Service are also drawn from the Department of Posts and the remaining personnel are recruited by the Army.

The functions in respect of the following service matters are allocated to Members as under :—

(i)	Member (P):	Personnel & Training
		Establishment
		Quality Management and Public Grievances
		Medical
(ii)	Member (O & M):	Technology
		Mail Management
		Philately
		Business Development
		Marketing

(iii) Member (D): Financial Services Estates Policy Items & Postal Network Materials Management Postal Life Insurance Civil & Electrical Wing

3. The Vigilance, International Relations & Finance Advice reports to Secretary Posts.

Direction

4. For the purpose of administrative convenience, the Department is divided into three distinct wings, viz, Postal Operations, Civil Wing and Finance and Accounts. The Postal Services Board and the Director General are assisted in the general administration of these branches by Deputy Directors-General:

Chief Engineer (Civil) (HQ) is assisted by Civil and Electrical Supdt. Engineers, Exe. Engineers, Asstt. Engineers and Junior Engineers, Architects.

4 (a) The Deputy Directors General and the Chief Engineer (Civil) (HQ) are officers of the Senior Administrative Grade. All Directors are in the Junior Administrative/Selection Grade and the Assistant Directors-General are officers in the Senior Time Scale. Other officers Group ‘B’ G.C.S. are of the Service from which they are drawn. All officers are drawn from various services like the Indian Postal Service/P and T Finance and Accounts Service/Central Secretariat Service/General Central Service.

Headquarters

5. The Headquarters of the Postal Services Board, the Director-General and other officers of the Director-General are at New Delhi.

Duties

6. Deleted.

Circles

7. For the purpose of proper control, the Indian Postal Department is divided into 22 Postal Circles under the charge of Principal/Chief Postmaster General.

Name of Circle Headquarters

1. Andhra Pradesh Circle Hyderabad
2. Assam Circle Guwahati
3. Bihar Circle Patna
4. Chhattisgarh Circle Raipur
5. Delhi Circle New Delhi
6. Gujarat Circle Ahmedabad
7. Haryana Circle Ambala

8. Himachal Pradesh Circle	Shimla
9. Jammu & Kashmir Circle	Srinagar
10. Jharkhand Circle	Ranchi
11. Karnataka Circle	Bangalore
12. Kerala Circle	Thiruvananthapuram
13. Madhya Pradesh Circle	Bhopal
14. Maharashtra Circle	Mumbai
15. North Eastern Circle	Shillong
16. Orissa Circle	Bhubaneswar
17. Punjab Circle	Chandigarh
18. Rajasthan Circle	Jaipur
19. Tamilnadu Circle	Chennai
20. Uttar Pradesh Circle	Lucknow
21. Uttaranchal Circle	Deharadun
22. West Bengal Circle	Kolkata

One Base Circle named as Army Postal Service Corps for providing postal services to Armed Forces is also functioning at New Delhi.

7 (a) Under each Head of Circle/Region there are the following classes of officers to assist him in general administration and other work.

Postal Branch including RMS

At Circle level

(1)

Director, Postal Services.

(2)

Director, Postal Accounts.

(3)

Director, Foreign Post (at Kolkata, Chennai and New Delhi) & PMG, FM in Mumbai.

(4)

APMGs

(5)

Asstt. Director, Postal Services.

(6)

Accounts Officer.

(7)

Welfare Officer.

(8)

Hindi Officer.

At Regional Level

7. (b) Each Circle is divided into Regions which are under the control of Postmasters General.

(a)

PMG

(b)

Asstt. Director Postal Services.

(c)

Accounts Officer (where sanctioned)

7. (c) At Divisional Level

1. Senior Superintendents of Post Offices and Senior Superintendents of Railway Mail Service in-charge Postal/R.M.S. Division.
2. Superintendents of Post Offices and Superintendents of R.M.S. in-charge of Postal/R.M.S. Divisions.
3. Senior Manager/Manager Mail Motor Services.
4. Superintendent, Circle Stamps Depot.
5. Superintendent, Postal Stores Depot.
6. Sr. Superintendents/Supdts; (RMS) (Sorting).
7. Assistant Superintendents of Posts and Assistant Superintendents Railway Mail Service.
8. Inspectors Posts/Inspector, Railway Mail Service in-charge of Sub-Divisions.
9. Head Postmasters (including Presidency Postmasters).
10. Sub Postmasters.
11. Mail/Cash Overseers.
12. GDS Branch Postmasters.

7. (d) Civil Engineering

(a)

(i) Superintending Surveyor of Works

(ii)

Surveyor of Works

(iii) Assistant Surveyor of Works

(b)

(i) Superintending Engineer

(ii)

Engineer officers

(iii) Executive Engineer

(iv)

Accounts Officer

(v)

Assistant Engineers

(vi)

Junior Engineers

(vii) Junior Accounts Officers

DISCIPLINE

Deleted from P & T Manual Volume II and Incorporated in Postal Manual Volume III as Chapter I.

Rules 11 to 109.—Deleted.

CHAPTER III

APPEALS AND PETITIONS

Appeals

Rules 110 to 114.—Deleted.

Petitions

1. Any representation which is not an appeal should be designated as a petition. A petition, when not made against a decision on a previous communication, should be addressed to the authority competent to pass orders on the subject-matter and should be submitted through the proper channel.
2. Every employee wishing to submit a petition must do so separately, and the petition can be made only in respect of matters in which he has a personal interest. Joint petitions are inadmissible, but there is no objection to an identical petition being made by more than one employee, provided the circumstances and conditions of the case as represented in the petition apply personally to each individual employee by whom it is submitted. Petitions must not contain any irrelevant matter; they should be clear and concise and couched in respectful language and end with a specific prayer. Whenever practicable, they should be written in English.
3. A petition to a higher authority when made against the decision of a next lower authority, must be accompanied by a copy of the order against which it is made, and must be submitted through the officer by whom the order was passed (whether original or on petition) and addressed to the next higher authority. For instance, a petition against an order originally passed by an Inspector of Post Offices must, in the first instance, be submitted through him, be accompanied by a copy of his order, and be addressed to the Superintendent of the Division. If the petitioner is dissatisfied with the Superintendent’s order on his petition, it is open to him to submit a petition to the next higher authority, i.e. the Director of Postal Services and the petition to that officer must be submitted through the Superintendent and be accompanied by a copy of the Superintendent’s order. Similarly a petition against an order originally passed by a Superintendent of Post Offices or R. M. S., must in the first instance be submitted through him, be accompanied by a copy of his order, and be addressed to the Director of Postal Services as the case may be. Petitions against the decisions of DPS should be addressed to the Head of the Circle in the case of major circles and to the D.G. in the case of minor circles. Petitions against the decisions of Heads of Circles must be submitted to the D.G. through the Head of the circle or any authority directly subordinate to the D.G. and be accompanied by a copy of his order.

NOTE.—These instructions are applicable only to those cases which are not governed by the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965. Petitions under the CCS (CCA) Rules in disciplinary cases have to be addressed after the appellate authority stage to the Head of the Circle or Member (Personnel) where Head of Circle is the appellate authority. Petitions from Uttaranchal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand Circle where the Heads of Circles are of the Senior Administrative Grade would be considered by Member (Personnel). Review petition under Rule 29-A of the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965 to the President should be submitted through proper channel.

118. Deleted.

118-A. (1) Any petition or copy thereof which is sent direct to the Director General or to any subordinate authority, instead of through the proper channel, will be filed, no notice of any kind being taken of it.

(2)

In one class of case only may an exception be made to this rule. It occasionally happens that an aggrieved official complains that he can get no reply at all to petition submitted in the proper manner. In such a case a reminder should be sent to the proper authority. If no reply is still forthcoming, after a reasonable time has been allowed for it, this fact may be reported direct to higher authority, copy being sent invariably through the official channel. If such a case as this comes to the notice of the Director General or the Head of a Circle or any other authority directly subordinate to the Director General, his attention will be directed to the alleged failure of the proper authority to deal with the case and to ensuring that the regular system is worked properly, rather than to the merits of the case itself.

(3)

In the case of memorials addressed to the President or to the Government of India, no copies of such memorials should be forwarded by the memorialists direct to those authorities.

NOTE.—These rules apply also to petitions, representations and applications addressed to the Director General by persons who have left the Department, or whose services have been dispensed with or who have been dismissed or removed from service. All such communications must be submitted through the Head of the Circle or the Administrative Office under whom the persons were last employed.

118-B. The officer by whom a petition is received for onward transmission should forward it to the authority addressed, with a report giving a full statement of the case and a definite recommendation in respect of the prayer or prayers contained therein. Relevant documents (copies or in original) should also accompany the forwarding report. If a petition or any of the documents accompanying or sent with it is in any Indian language, an English translation of the document should be appended.

118-C. No petition lies to a higher authority except against the order of the next lower authority in which the latter authority is competent to pass orders on the subject-matter of the petition. For instance, in the illustration given in rule 117 a petition against the Inspector’s order does not lie to the Director of Postal Services if the Superintendent has not been previously addressed; and in such cases the petition is liable to be withheld by the Superintendent. Similarly, a petition against the order of a Superintendent of Post Offices or Railway Mail Service does not lie to the Head of the Circle if the Director of Postal Services has not been previously addressed; and in such cases the petition is liable to be withheld. A petition against the orders of any other authority directly subordinate to the Director General, should, however, be made to the Director General.

118-D Petition, to a higher authority against the orders of a lower authority are liable to be rejected without investigation if they are submitted more than six months after the date of communication to the petitioner of the order represented against.

NOTE.—The period of 6 months should count after the date on which the petitioner was informed of the original orders of the authority concerned and not the subsequent orders, if any, passed on a petition for reconsideration.

118-E. No authority below the rank of the Head of a Circle or Head of an Administrative Office directly subordinate to the Director General may withhold a petition addressed to a higher authority unless it relates to a subject on which the lower authority is competent to pass orders and no previous application for redress has been made to him. Whenever a petition is withheld under this rule, the fact that it has been withheld and the reason for withholding it must be communicated by the officer concerned to the petitioner as well as to the authority to whom the petition was addressed.

Petitions to the Director General

1. The instructions in the preceding rules apply also to petitions addressed to the Director General.
2. The Head of a Circle or any other authority directly subordinate to the Director General is however, vested with discretionary power to withhold petitions to the Director General in the following cases; and whenever this power is exercised, the fact and the reasons for it should be communicated to the petitioner :—

(a) In the case of a transfer ordered in the interest of service or the refusal of an application for a transfer including exchanges of stations at the expense of the officials concerned.

NOTE.—The mere fact of transfer to which every official is liable as a condition of his service cannot, in ordinary circumstances, be made a ground for representation to the Head of the Department; but a petition lies to the Director General in the case of an officer frequently transferred at short intervals and who makes this ground of his petition.

(b) In the case of a candidate for employment in the Department, a learner under training, a temporary or acting official, or a probationer, whom the Head of a Circle or any authority subordinate to him is competent to appoint and who is removed from the Department as having proved himself unfit for permanent employment.

NOTE.—This does include cases in which any of the officials mentioned above is discharged or dismissed or removed from service on account of some specific offence; whether proved or suspected e.g., participation in a fraud.

(c)

In the case of voluntary unconditional resignation of his appointment by an office.

(d)

In case a petition is illegible or unintelligible, or contains language which, in the opinion of the Head of the Circle or any other authority directly subordinate to the Director General, is disrespectful or improper.

(e)

In case a previous petition has been disposed of by the Director General and a fresh one is submitted disclosing no new facts or circumstances affording ground for reconsideration of the orders already passed.

(f)

In case a petition relates to a subject on which the Head of the Circle or any other authority directly subordinate to the Director General, is competent to pass orders and no previous application for redress has been made to them.

(g)

In case a petition to the Director General against the order of the Head of a Circle or any other authority directly subordinate to the Director General is not submitted within six months after the date on which the petitioner was informed of the order represented against, and no reasonable cause is shown for the delay.

NOTE.—The period of 6 months should count after the date on which the petitioner was informed of the original orders of the authority concerned and not the subsequent orders, if any, passed on a petition for reconsideration.

(h)

In the case of an application—

(i)

for employment in Government service not made in pursuance of any rule or announcement regarding applications for such employment; or

(ii)

for exemption from the provisions of any rule or order prescribing the qualifications to be possessed by persons for appointment in the service of Government.

(i)

In the case of a petition against termination of services under Rule 5 of the Central Civil Services (Temporary Service) Rules, 1965 if it is submitted after the expiry of three months—

(i)

in a case where notice is given, from the date of notice;

(ii)

in a case where no notice is given, from the date of termination of service.

121. The Head of a Circle or any other authority directly subordinate to the Director General will forward quarterly to the Director General a list of petitions withheld under rule 120.

Petitions to the President

122. The instructions for the submission of petitions to the President are reproduced in the succeeding rules. The petitions may also be addressed to the Secretary of the Government of India, Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications & IT. They must be submitted through the official superior of the petitioner. The instructions do not contemplate the submission of petitions to the Honorable Prime Minister or the Honourable Ministers in charge of the Ministry of Communications & IT or to the Secretary of the Department of Posts by name. No attention will be paid to petitions which are submitted direct and those addressed to the Honourable Prime Minister, Honourable Minister or the Secretary by name. Petitions which are submitted through the proper channel but are incorrectly addressed should be returned for correction before they are forwarded to the Directorate General.

Every petition to the President must be forwarded to the Director General by the Head of the Circle concerned or any other authority directly subordinate to the Director General accompanied by a concise statement of material facts and (unless there are special reasons for not doing so) an expression of his opinion.

NOTE.—Petitions to the Chairman of the Postal Services Board or to any other member of the Board will not be treated as petitions addressed either to the Director General or to the President. Such petitions should be returned to the petitioners for being addressed to the proper authority, namely, the President or the Director General as the case may be.

123. Instructions for the submission of petitions to the President from outsiders.

PART I PRELIMINARY

1. Definition.—For the purposes of these Instructions, “petition” includes memorials, letters and applications of the nature of petitions.
1. Scope of Instructions.—These Instructions shall apply, so far as may be, to all petitions addressed to the President relating to matters to which the executive authority of the President extends excepting—
1. petitions submitted by, or on behalf of, persons sentenced by a court of law to death or to any other punishment;
2. petitions submitted by, or on behalf of, persons who are or have been in the service of the Union of India in respect of matters arising out of such service or in respect of the termination of such service; and

(iii) petitions relating to bills pending before the Indian Parliament.

PART II FORM AND MANNER OF SUBMISSION OF PETITIONS

3. Form of petitions.—

(1)

A petition may be either in type or in print.

(2)

Every petition shall be authenticated by the signature of the Petitioner, or, when the petitioners are numerous, by the signatures of one or more of them.

(3)

Every petition and the documents accompanying it, shall, if possible, be in English; if not they shall be accompanied by an English translation authenticated in the manner provided in Sub-instruction (2).

4. Contents of petition.—Every petition shall—

(a)

contain all material statements and arguments relied upon by the petitioner;

(b)

be complete in itself;

(c)

in any recorded order of a public authority is complained against, be accompanied by a copy of the order and by a copy of any order in the case passed by the subordinate authority; and

(d)

end with a specific prayer.

5. Method of submission.—Every petition shall be submitted—

(a)

if it relates to a matter directly administered by the President through the Head of the Department concerned;

(b)

if it emanates from a Union Territory under a Lt. Governor, and is not covered by the preceding clause through the Chief Commissioner; and

(c)

in any other case to the President in the Ministry of Home Affairs; and shall be accompanied by a letter requesting the authority to submit the petition to the President.

PART III WITHHOLDING OF PETITIONS BY SUBORDINATE AUTHORITIES

6. Circumstances in which petitions may be withheld.—The petitions received by any authority under Sub-instructions (a) and (b) of instruction 5, may if it is an authority specified in the Schedule be withheld by that authority, when—

(1)

the petitioner has not complied in full with the provisions of Part II of those instructions;

(2)

the petition is illegible or unintelligible, or contains language which is in the opinion of the authority disloyal, disrespectful or improper;

(3)

a previous petition from the petitioner on the same subject has been disposed of by the Government of India, or the President, and the petition, in the opinion of the authority, discloses no new facts or circumstances which afford grounds for reconsideration of the subjects;

(4)

the petition is a representation against a decision which is declared to be final by any law or statutory rule;

(5)

the law provides a different or specific remedy in respect of the subject matter of the petition, whether or not any period of limitation prescribed for the prosecution of such remedy has expired;

(6)

the petition is in effect an appeal from a judicial decision;

(7)

the petition is a mere application for relief, pecuniary or other, which is—

(a)

presented by a person manifestly possessing no claim or advancing a claim of an obviously unsubstantial character; or

(b)

so belated that its consideration is clearly impossible.

(8)

the petition makes a proposal regarding legislation which the authority is not prepared to support;

(9)

the petition is a representation against the action of a private individual or of a body of private individuals regarding the private relations of the petitioner or such individual or body;

(10)

the petition relates to a matter in which the petitioner has no direct personal interest;

(11)

the petition relates to a subject on which the authority is competent to pass orders, and no application for redress has been made by the petitioner to the authority;

(12)

the petition is a representation against an order communicated to the petitioner more than six months before the submission of the petition and no satisfactory explanation to the delay is given;

(13)

the petition is a representation against a failure to exercise a discretion vested in the President or any other authority.

1. Petitioner to be informed when petition is withheld.—When a petition is withheld under Instruction 6, the authority shall inform the petitioner of the withholding and the reasons therefor.
2. List of petitions withheld.—The authorities mentioned in the Scheduled shall send a quarterly return to the President specifying all petitions, withheld under Instruction 6 and the reasons for withholding them.

PART IV TRANSMISSION OF PETITIONS BY SUBORDINATE AUTHORITIES

9. Procedure for Transmission.—

(1)

The authorities referred to in Sub-instructions (a) and (b) of Instruction 5 shall transmit to the President all petitions not withheld under Instruction 6 together with a concise statement of facts material thereto and an expression of the opinion of the authority concerned thereon.

(2)

Where the petition or any document accompanying it is not in English,—

(a)

if it is accompanied by an English translation, the authority shall examine the translation and report any defects found therein while transmitting the petition;

(b)

if it is not accompanied by an English translation the authority shall prepare such a translation and transmit it together with the petition.

SCHEDULE LIST OF SUBORDINATE AUTHORITIES WHO MAY WITHHOLD PETITIONS

(See Instruction 6)

1. All Heads of Departments directly administered by the President including :—

(a)

The Chief of the Army Staff in India;

(b)

The Chief of the Naval Staff, Indian Navy;

(c)

The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Headquarters, India; and

(d)

The Railway Board.

1. Army, District and Independent Brigade Commanders.
2. Lieut, Governors.

123-A. Instruction for the submission, receipt and transmission of petitions addressed to the President in respect of matters arising out of civil employment under the Government of India or the termination of such employment :

PART I PRELIMINARY

1. Definition.—In these instructions—

(1)

“Petition” includes a memorial, representation, letter or an application of the nature of a petition.

(2)

“Prescribed authority” means the appropriate authority specified in the Schedule to these Instructions.

2. Scope of Instructions.—(1) Save as hereinafter provided, these instructions shall apply—

(i)

So far as may be, to all petitions addressed to the President by persons who are, or have been, in the civil employment of the Government of India other than persons who are or have been under the administrative control of the Railway Board, and persons who are governed by the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969 in respect of matters arising out of such employment or in respect of the termination of such employment.

(ii)

Sofar as they are not inconsistent with the conditions of the Indian Army, Naval, or Air Force Service, to petitions addressed to the President by members of the Armed Forces, who are or have been in civil employment of the Government of India, in respect of matters arising from such employment.

(2) These instructions shall not affect any rules or orders made by the President in respect of representations submitted by Associations or Unions of Government servants.

PART II

FORM AND MANNER OF SUBMISSION OF PETITIONS

3. Form of petitions.—(1) Every petition shall be legible and may preferably be either in type-script or in print.

(2)

Every petition shall be authenticated by the signature of the petitioner and shall be submitted by him in his own behalf.

(3)

Every petition and any document accompanying it shall be in the official language of the Union or any of the regional languages specified in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution :

Provided that if a petitioner document is in a regional language, a translation thereof in the official language shall be furnished as far as possible alongwith such petition or document, but no petition shall be withheld on the ground only of such translation.

4. Contents of petitions.—Every petition shall—

(a)

contain all material statements and arguments relied upon by the petitioner;

(b)

be complete in itself and include a copy of the order complained against, as well as copies of orders, if any passed by subordinate authorities;

(c)

contain no disloyal, disrespectful or improper language;

(d)

end with a specific prayer.

5. Methods of submission of petitions.—

(1)

Every petition shall be submitted to the prescribed authority through the Head of the Office or Department to which the petitioner belongs or belonged, and shall be accompanied by a letter requesting the prescribed authority to transmit it to the President.

(2)

The Head of the Office or Department, on receipt of the petition submitted through him in accordance with sub-instruction (1), shall forward the petition through the usual official channel, to the prescribed authority; together with a concise statement of the facts, material thereto all relevant papers, and, unless there are special reasons to the contrary, an expression of his opinion thereon.

PART III WITHHOLDING OF PETITIONS BY THE PRESCRIBED AUTHORITY

6. Circumstances in which petitions may be withheld.—The prescribed authority may in its discretion, withhold a petition when—

(1)

the petitioner has not complied with any of the provisions of Part II; or

(2)

the petition is a representation against an order communicated to the petitioner more than six months before the submission of the petition, and no satisfactory explanation of the delay is given; or

(3)

a previous petition from the petitioner on the same subject has been disposed of by the President and the petition, in the opinion of the prescribed authority, discloses no new facts of circumstances which afford grounds for a reconsideration of the matter; or

(4)

the petition is a representation against a decision which is declared to be final by any law or statutory rule; or